Knitted fabric



Patented July 12, 1949 KNITTED FABRICv John R. Little, Jr., Portsmouth, Providence, R. I., assignors to a corporation of Massachusetts Inc.,

and' Irving Gross, Fairhope liabri'cs,

Applicationy August 23, 1947, Serial No. 770,228

(Cl. (i6- 191) 7 Claims. l

This invention relates generally to a pile fabric made on a knitting machine. The present invention may be applied to a 'variety of fabrics. It is particularly adapted for use in manufacturing carpet which is comparable to the socalled broadloom carpet.

An object of this invention is to provide a fabric on a knitting machine wherein thefilling yarn for the back and' face of the fabric will be separate yarns and bound together by a knit stitch.

Another object of this invention is to provide a pile fabric wherein tufts will be formed by a yarn separate of the yarn forming the base or backing of the fabric.

Another object of this invention is. to provide a pile fabric wherein tufts are bound at their base by spaced lines of knit stitches.

Anothei` object of this invention is to provide a pile fabric wherein tufts will lbe inthe form of loopsbound by knit stitches and extending in the direction of the line of the stitches.

A more specic object of the invention is to make carpet on a knitting machine, which cai pet will have thev appearance of broadloom.

Another object of the invention is to make carpet on` a knitting machine wherein both the face and back yarn fillings will be incorporated in the fabric.

Another object of the invention is to make carpet on a knitting machine wherein the filling yarn. for the face of the carpet will completely mask the binding stitches and. the filling yarn for the back of the carpet.

Another object of the invention is to make carpet on a knitting machine which can be manufactured at a comparatively low cost of production and which will be durable and satisfactory in use.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view showing, the relative arrangement of the yarns forming a fabric embodying one form of the invention;

Fig..2 is asimilar view but omitting the facing yarns so as to. more clearly show the relation of the binding yarns to the back yarns forming the back of the fabric;

Fig. 3 is also a view similar to Fig. 1 but omitting the yarns forming the back of the fabric .so as to more clearly show the manner in which the face yarns extend through the fabric relative to the binding yarns.

Fig. 4 is a View of the face of the fabric showing the tuftsas masking the back and binding yarns;

Fig. 5 andv Fig. 6 is an edge Viewl of the fabric.

This invention comprises in general in laying laterally back and forth over warps in overlapping relation` two separate filling yarns and bindingsaid yarns together at each warp crossed by a knit stitch formed in the wars. These yarns are laid or extendedy across the warps in a manner that one of the filling yarnsr or face wefts apear only on the front ofthe fabric, preferably in loop formation, while the other filling yarns or back wefts appear only on the rear or back of the fabric. That is, there. is a, back weft for each warp thread and each back weft extends laterally across a plurality of Warps and bound to said warps at each pick by a stitch formed in the warps. The number of warps crossed at each pick depends upon the amount of backing yarn or strength desiredv in. the finished fabric. Thus, if the yback wefts are extended across four warps `in consecutive order, there will he three back wefts extending acrossthe space between adjacent warps at each pick.. Simultaneously, or nearly so, with the laying of the back wefts, the filling yarn, or face wefts, which forms the front of the fabric is also laid to. extend laterally back and forth over at least a pair of adjacent warps. The face wefts vare raised in the space between the warps crossed to form loops. These face wefts are also bound tothe back weft-s and warps crossed at each pick'.

Referring to the drawings for a more detailed description of the invention, lili designates a fabric constructed in accordance with the invention and in. which Il, I2', t3, .Mare binding threads, l5, I'B, Il, I8 are vback filling yarns or back wefts, and I 9, 2i), 2| are front filling yarns or face wefts.

The binding threads are each from separate supplies and extend in spaced relation lengthwise of the fabric. These binding threads may be said to constitute the warps ofthe fabric. A stitch is formed in the warpsy Vai; each course or pick so as .to bndtogetherthe weftslaid across the warps in the process of making the fabric. The stitch may be in the form of any suitable knitting stitch, such as a chain stitch. Thus, there -is provided spaced parallel warp lines of stitches 22 extending lengthwise of the fabric and the spacing of which maybe varied in accordance to the fabric is a view ofthe rear or back of the fabric;

i weft I6 similarly extends across the warp I2 and the next three consecutive warps. The weft I8 also similarly extends over four warps. The face wefts are laid to extend over two adjacent warps.

The face weft I9 extends laterally across warps i i, I2. The face weft 20 similarly extends across 'wa-rps I2, i3 and the face weft 2l extends inl a like manner across Warps I3 4and Id. A stitch 23 is formed in warps so as to embrace both the back and face wefts extending across the' warps to bind the saine together. This constitutes a course or pic-lr. The wefts are then reversed to extend laterally across the warps in the opposite direction to the initial position of the wefts and bound together at each warp by another stitch 24 formed in the warps. 1

By extending the back wefts across a plurality of four warps, three overlapping back wefts are provided in the space between each warp line of stitches as at 25. However, the back wefts'may be made to cross a lesser or greater numberof warps as desired, depending upon the particular fabric constructed.

When extending the face wefts across the warps, the wefts are raised in the space between the warps crossed so as to form loops 26. This provides tufts 21, the bases of which are bound in the fabric by two adjacent lines of warp stitches as at 28, 29 so as to provide a good anchorage therefor, as well as mask the Vunderlying yback wefts. The loops 2B are made of a suiiicient extent so that each have touching engagement with each other across the warp lines of stitches, as shown in Fig. 4, which completely masks the line of stitches and the back wefts.

In Fig. 2, the face wefts are omitted so as to more clearly illustrate the manner in which the back wefts are laid back and forth unknit across the warps. In Fig. 3, the back wefts are omitted for a similar reason. The face wefts are shown as extending back and forth across two warps; Iowever, the face wefts may be m'ade to extend over a greater plurality of warpsin which instance a great amount of face filling may be placed in the fabric. l

As previously stated, the back wefts in the fabric, manufactured in the manner described, do not appear in the face of the fabric. Therefore, a choice of material may be had for the carpet base or backing. This may be a jute yarn laid across a plurality of lines of stitches suicient so as to provide for a plurality of overlapping strands tied together at each line of 'stitches so as to rmly secure the yarn against weftwise motion as well as provide a closely compacted backing. The face wefts may be of a usual wool material to provide additional strength and durability in the carpet.

We claim:

1. A fabric comprising spaced parallel warp lines of stitches, back wefts extending laterally back and forth across a plurality of warp lines of stitches and face wefts extending laterally back and forth over a lesser number of war-p lines of 4 stitches than said back Vwefts and with said face and back wefts bound together by said warp lines of stitches, said face wefts being of much greater length between adjacent warp lines of stitches than the distance of the spacing between said adjacent Warp lines of stitches and raised in the space between said adjacent warp lines of stitches to form loops with one side of each loop bound in one warp line of stitches and the other side bound in said adjacent warp line of stitches.

2. A fabric as set forth in claim l wherein said lwarp lines of stitches are single chain stitches.

' 3. A fabric as set forth in claim l wherein each warp line of stitches is a single yarn.

4. A fabricas set forth in claim 1 wherein said back and face wefts are bound together by each warp line of stitches traversed thereby.

5. A' fabric as set forth in claim 4 wherein said tufts are of sunicient extent so as to have touching engagement across the warp lines of stitches and mask the Warp lines of stitches and the back wefts.

6. A fabric comprising spaced parallel lines of stitches, a plurality of separate back wefts each extending laterallytback and forth across a plurality of lines of stitches with each of said wefts at least overlapping another of said wefts across a warp line of stitches, land separate face wefts extending laterally back and forth across two adjacent warplines of stitches, and with said back and face wefts bound together by said warp line of stitches at each crossing thereof, said face wefts being of much greater length between adjacent warp lines of stitches than the distance of the spacing between said adjacent warp lines of stitches and raised in the space between said adjacent warp lines of stitches to form loops with one side of each loop bound in one warp line of stitches and the other side bound in said adjacent warp line of stitches.

'7. A fabric comprising spaced parallel lines of stitches and separate back and face wefts for each warp line of stitches, said back wefts extending laterally back and forth across a plurality Vof lines of stitches 'with each of said back wefts at least overlapping a plurality of said back wefts at each crossing of a warp line, said face wefts extending laterally back and forth across two adjacent warp lines of stitches and with said back and face wefts bound together by said warp line of stitches at each crossing thereof, said face Y wefts being of much greater length between adjacent warp lines of stitches than the distance of the spacing between said adjacent warp lines of stitches and raised in thespace between said adjacent Warp lines of stitches to form loops with one side of the loops bound in one warp line of stitches and the other side bound in said adjacent warp line of stitches.

JOHN R. LITTLE, Jn.

IRVING GROSS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the nie of this patent:

UNITED STATES PA'IENTS Newman Jan. 21, 1941 

